Arena of Valor Beginner Guide

MOBAs like Arena of Valor might seem intimidating to newer players, partially because of their complexity. One of the main aspects of this complexity is the sheer number of terms that are used to explain the game’s mechanics.

To make the learning process easier for newer players, we've thrown together a quick list of some of the terms you might come across while playing the game, along with simple explanations

Team Comp

Team comp is short for team composition. In AoV (Arena of Valor), each hero is designed to play a specific role within the team. Some are 'tanks’ that stay on the front lines and soak damage from the enemy while others are 'mages or supports’ that hinder the enemy team while helping their allies. There are other roles as well, and you'll be able to find explanations for them in-game.

With this in mind, team composition (or team comp) refers to the general makeup of your team. A balanced team comp would have a diverse variety of these roles and would have a definite advantage over unbalanced team comps.

Buffs

Buffs are beneficial status effects that affect heroes, making them more powerful. These include status effects that increase your damage, your movement speed, or your rate of experience gain. Some come from hero abilities and others from killing specific jungle monsters.

These provide a definite advantage to your team and could be the difference between a kill and a death. Debuffs, on the other hand, are negative status effects like slows, for example, which put a character at a disadvantage.

Stacks

Some ability affects grow more powerful if they are applied multiple times to a particular hero before the buff/debuff duration expires.

These are called abilities that ‘stack’ and the power of the effect depends on the size of the ‘stack’.

Last-Hitting

This term refers to landing the killing blow on a minion or monster, which will net your character extra gold, enabling you to purchase items faster.

If you're playing a support hero, you should almost always let your carry player/damage dealer take last hits during the early phases of the match.

Farming

Farming refers to acquiring gold and experience by last hitting minions or monsters, enabling your hero to become more powerful and have a greater impact on the match.

Harass

Harassing an enemy hero means consistently dealing damage to them, which makes it harder for them to farm and last hit. This, when done right, gives your team an advantage over your opponents.

Ganking

Planning a coordinated attack on an enemy hero to try and kill them is called ganking.

This is typically done by ‘roaming’ from your lane or the jungle to wherever they are, and waiting in the bushes for the right moment to launch your attack.

Kiting

Ranged heroes 'kite’ enemy players by attacking them once with either their basic attack or with a skill, running away from them, and then attacking again.

This is done repeatedly to avoid taking damage while also dealing damage.

Pushing

When you kill minions and attack the enemy towers or core, you are 'pushing’ your lane and attempting to take an objective.

This also puts pressure on the enemy team, forcing them to either defend the objective (a tower, usually) or lose it.

Juking

Running in unpredictable patterns, and using bushes to make your escape when you're being attacked by the enemy is called juking.

Jungle

The areas in between the three lanes contain 'camps’ of neutral monsters that you can kill for gold and experience.

This whole region is called the jungle and there are certain heroes whose preferred role is to farm gold and experience in the jungle.

You'll come across these terms both in-game and while reading about AoV online, so while you might not remember all this information instantly, you'll pick it up over time after seeing them around a few times.

There are, of course, plenty of other terms associated with the game, so watch this space for more explanations!